CHP leader to run for president if Nation Alliance wants
ANKARA
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on May 4 said he would agree to run for president in the next elections if the Nation Alliance would ask him.
“We have a Nation Alliance. If the Alliance says, ‘You will be [our presidential candidate],’ then I will be,” he said while speaking to Yeniçağ TV.
Stating that now is not the time to hold a presidential debate, he said: “Another party member could be a presidential candidate as well. The subject is Turkey’s welfare and peace. We will talk and discuss within that framework,” he added.
The CHP, the İYİ (Good) Party, the Felicity Party (SP) and the Democratic Party (DP) formed the Nation Alliance before June 24, 2018, presidential and parliamentary elections.
The parties of Nation Alliance have nominated their presidential candidates in 2018 but ran as an alliance for the parliamentary election held on the same day. The alliance also supported each other’s candidates at the local elections in 2019.
Elaborating on the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader’s newly announced constitution proposal, Kılıçdaroğlu said the move was “meaningless” because the current system already gathers the power at the presidency. The CHP leader said that the MHP’s move intended to change Turkey’s agenda.
“We haven’t seen the text, but I think it will remove the Constitutional Court. Maybe it will remove the Supreme Court. The palace already makes the decision,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.
“You appoint a judge, change the law you want by a decree and cancel an international convention you want with a signature,” he added.
